India, US ink MoU for exchange of information on terror database

India and United States (US) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to join the global terror database maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) of US.

Under this MoU, both sides will give each other access to terrorism screening information through designated contact points, subject to domestic laws and regulations.

The real time exchange of intelligence on terror would enhance the counter terrorism cooperation between India and the US

TSC is a multi-agency organisation administered by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which consolidates several terrorist watch lists maintained by different US government agencies into single terrorist database on terror suspects. It has details of 11,000 terror suspects on its database, including nationality, photos, finger prints (if any), date of birth and passport number. So far US has finalised such agreements with 30 countries.

Comment

By signing this MoU, India has formally entered into the US Homeland Security Presidential Directive-6 (HSPD-6). It will enable India to access ‘unclassified biographic information of known and suspected terrorists’ maintained by the US on a reciprocal basis.

Background

The proposal in this regard was initially made by the US in 2012, but had made little progress due to objections raised by Indian security agencies. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had opposed giving the US unhindered access to the database of terror suspects in India.